06 Nov 24
The case involved sub-letting of rooms in their rental house by the tenant – creating an illegal HMO – unknown to the letting agent and landlords.
The law is clear that the landlord is nonetheless responsible at law for any illegal HMO and compliance with the HMO Management Regulations and HMO licensing.
The Local Housing Authority planned to serve the landlord with a Civil Penalty Notice for £22,500 for failure to licence an HMO and multiple breaches of the HMO Management Regulations.
Dear Landlord Licensing & Defence,
Thank you for your previous correspondence and cooperation over the past 12 months. Your continued cooperation has been essential for our investigation into the facts of the case with XXX Farm.
We have continued to conduct PACE interviews and investigations, following the initial notice served and the representations received [from Landlord Licensing & Defence]…we have decided that no further action will be taken, and a Civil Penalty Notice will not be issued on this occasion.
In the future, we would like to ensure Mr [Landlord] is vigilant with his tenants and the vetting process, and it is essential that he knows who is in the property he is letting out. Again, we would like to thank [Landlord] for his cooperation.
Said Phil Turtle, Director of Compliance Services with Landlord Licensing & Defence. “This is a very common situation where there is sub-letting by tenants.
“It is almost inevitable that a house let as a family dwelling will not have the necessary fire alarm systems, fire doors and other features required by the Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation (England) Regulations 2006. All of these are Criminal Offences under there Housing Act 2004.
“The result is almost always civil penalty fines for the landlord and often the letting agent too in the realm of £20-30,000 each. Sometimes a lot more.”
As in many cases of this nature, the experts at Landlord Licensing & Defence were able to work with both the landlord and the council to solve the problem satisfactorily and pragmatically without resorting to a legal fight (legal fights are highly expensive and rarely as effective as a negotiated settlement) and, for the landlord client save them £22,500 in council fines and the inevitable black-mark on the inter-council rouge landlords database.
One thing that local housing authorities frequently comment upon in working with Landlord Licensing & Defence on cases against Landlords is that Landlord Licensing & Defence trains and improves the landlord in ways that the council can’t and solicitors would not have a clue how to. The council can then be much more relaxed that the property will be well managed going forward since they understand the fines and protection do not actually improve a landlord.
As is usually the case in cases handled for landlords under enforcement by councils, the outcome is a win-win.
The landlord wins by not having a massive fine and receiving invaluable training.
The council wins by having a problem fixed and knowing that they have a landlord who is now far more capable of managing the property going forward.
